


Hungry Ghost Month

by Tarlan



Category: Bones (TV), They Wait (2007)
Genre: F/M, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-30
Updated: 2011-04-30
Packaged: 2017-10-18 19:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/192631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blake follows up on Sarah's ghost story and promises to return the bones to China---with the help of Dr. Brennan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hungry Ghost Month

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the PHOENIX _Fill in the Fiction_ Challenge 2011

As a photojournalist, Blake had seen plenty of weird and terrible sights in his time but the half-eaten skeleton of an older Chinese woman made him feel sick inside. He'd come to investigate and write up a story for the newspaper following the events surrounding Sarah and her son, Sammy, but there seemed nothing supernatural about cannibalized remains, except for the story told by Sarah that would scare even the most hardy of supernatural fans.

Blake wanted to tell that story, but in more depth that a few inches in a newspaper column would allow.

Hungry Ghost Month was the time in the Chinese calendar when the divide between the worlds of the living and the dead was paper thin, allowing angry spirits the opportunity to cross over and seek revenge. The Chinese made small food offerings in the hope of appeasing the angry spirits but there were some whose rage transcended such platitudes. After hearing Sarah's story--of a murdered Chinese girl seeking revenge on those who had killed her so callously when she discovered their illegal trade in bear bile and bone--he felt a shiver up his spine.

The owners of the factory were dead, all of them murdered in a gruesome fashion, with the flesh stripped from their bones, and now a specialist forensic team had moved in to try to make sense of the massive pile of human bones that had been walled up in the factory. The Police had already interviewed Sarah's husband, Jason, and had confirmed that he knew nothing of the illegal trade, fully believing that he was allowing his uncles and aunt to use his export company to send home the bones of Chinese workers who had died so they could be reunited with their ancestors.

The entire Chinese community were in shock following the gruesome discovery, having long revered Jason's family for their work on behalf of the dead.

"How many bodies do you think there are?" He pointed towards the still massive bone pile, watching as Dr. Brennan and her team worked methodically, separating the bones into distinct piles of ulnae, tibiae, skulls...and so on.

Brennan carried on working. "At least twenty individuals but I won't have an accurate figure until I've finished sorting through the pile."

"But how are you going to work out which bones belong to whom?" It seemed an impossible task because all the smaller bones looked identical to his untrained eye. Admittedly, some were larger or smaller than others but he couldn't even guess where some of those bones belonged in the human body.

Brennan glanced up in annoyance, obviously disliking the distraction. "There are many methods. Simply looking will be the first before moving on to more in-depth tests such as isotopes to determine--"

"Would it help if you had a list?"

Brennan stilled, suddenly more interested in what he had to say. "You have a list?"

Blake raised his eyebrows. "The owners of the factory tried to make it look legit by keeping detailed records. We could crosscheck that list against the grave boxes received and interred by the Chinese authorities--"

"And the ones missing from the list will be the twenty grave boxes that were defiled and replaced with bear products."

"With luck."

"I don't believe in luck."

Blake smiled. "I'll get that list."

The Jeffersonian forensics laboratory in Washington DC was amazing with high ceilings and so much space and light. Blake felt like a awe-struck kid on a field trip as he walked through the entrance but swiftly pushed that under control. He approached the work area where Brennan and her team had reassembled most of the twenty-three skeletons. Brennan was standing over one in particularly, studying the bone carefully.

"Dr. Brennan?"

"Mr. O'Connell!"

"Please, call me Blake." She smiled broadly as if he'd given her a great honor and, slightly weirded out by that thought, Blake pointed to the skeleton on the table. "Something interesting?"

"Yes. A young woman, late teens to early twenties. She was murdered."

"That could be Shen."

"Ah. Yes. The hungry ghost who was demanding vengeance in your colleague's account of events," she replied skeptically.

"I guess you don't believe in her story."

"There are no such things as ghosts."

"I've seen a lot of strange things around the world so I'm not ready to discredit the existence of ghosts just yet."

"Which seems wrong because you're a photojournalist looking for the truth."

" _Looking_ being the operative word...and that's exactly why I can't rule it out. I know Sarah, and I've not seen anything to explain what she and her husband saw that night, and what she knows."

Brennan looked exasperated. "Then we'll have to agree to differ."

Blake smiled. "Sure."

"She was very beautiful."

"Sorry?"

"Shen. Angela made a sketch from the skull, and she was very beautiful."

He felt stunned for a moment, having not considered the possibility of seeing a representation of Sarah's hungry ghost.

"Could I have a copy of it? For my article."

"I'm sure that could be arranged."

Blake smiled again, intrigued by Dr. Brennan. "Do you want to go out for coffee later?" Blake asked.

"If that's an invitation leading to sex then yes." Blake raised both eyebrows and Brennan seemed to take that as a cue to explain her position. "You're a good looking man and I'm very pleasing to the eye also."

"Yes, you are." Blake's smile turned to a grin, unused to a woman being so forward, but he saw no reason to object. It was refreshing to find a partner who clearly knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to simply ask for it. "I'll pick you up at eight."

"I'll be ready."

****

Three days later, Blake settled into his seat and strapped in as the plane readied for take-off. In the hold were twenty grave boxes, sealed with all the bones intact and afforded great deference. He had promised Sarah that he would accompany the bones back to China, and in particular, he would accompany Shen's all the way back to the remote province where she would be laid to rest with her ancestors. He had deliberately chosen a night flight, wanting to make use of the peace and quiet in the business class cabin to write up the remainder of his notes, expecting to complete the piece soon after he had seen Shen's bones join her ancestors'.

His thoughts turned to Temperance first, recalling the two nights they had spent together exchanging stories of people and places they had seen, while trading kisses and caresses after some great sex. He knew they were unlikely to cross paths again in this life but maybe they'd meet again in the afterlife. Eventually, he pulled out his laptop and plugged it into the complimentary power socket, adding to his story of a young Chinese girl's life and death...and afterlife.

Hours later, he stretched and yawned before closing the lid of his laptop. Ahead of him, the heavy curtain that separated Business from First Class opened a little, and framed within the heavy folds was a strangely familiar, young Chinese girl who smiled at him warmly. He smiled back, blinked once--and she was gone. A chill shivered through him when he realized she had looked exactly like the drawing of Shen, given to him by Angela Montenegro.

Outside of the plane, the first rays of the approaching dawn touched the sky. Hungry Ghost Month had ended several weeks earlier but he had heard from the old Chinese Medicine dealer that the veil between life and death could remain thin for some weeks after. Silently, he hoped Shen's spirit had simply come to say goodbye, and would rest forever now she was almost home.

END

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